Most of us who follow politics on a regular basis already know who we are voting for this coming May. We probably could have told you the object of our political affection months before the election was even called. However there are still many people out there either leaning a little left/right or perhaps they’re still undecided. One of the best ways for these citizens to judge the candidates and make an educated decision on who to vote for is by tuning into the English and/or French leaders debate…
Category: Quiet Mikes Mumblings
Stephen Harper’s first campaign announcement (another tax cut!) goes straight to his base
The old saying goes everybody likes tax cuts, and as far as tax cuts go King Harper is indeed the king. With his first campaign announcement of the election season, Harper attempted to impress us all with a proposal dubbed “the Family Tax Cut”, a whopping $2.5 billion/year plan to lighten the load on families raising children…
Quiet Mike’s Canadian Election 2011 Day 1
Mark May 2nd on your calendar; that is the day we vote for a new national government of Canada for the fourth time in seven years. Many Canadians no doubt wondering why we have to go to the polls yet again when the party in power is already leading in the polls. If you are not a diehard supporter of the Conservative Party, you can appreciate the…
Libya and the Two Faces of the West
Over the last few days western countries have started to enforce a UN mandated no-fly zone over the skies of Libya. French jets fired on Libyan tanks, while over a hundred cruise missiles were launched from British and American warships in the Mediterranean. The offensive was started almost immediately after an emergency summit in France was attended by 22 nations and organizations including: France, the UK, Germany, Italy, Canada, Spain and of course the US…
Japan Battles the Elements; Earth, Water and Fire
The war in Japan has been over for more than sixty-five years, but if you didn’t know any better you might think the war was still going on, judging from some of the images we’ve seen in the last few days. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake on Friday was so powerful that it shifted the entire main island of Japan as much as two meters. And yet…
Al Jazeera: The News How It Was Intended to be Seen
American Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently cited Al Jazeera for fine news coverage while at the same time criticizing the American media. She claimed that the United States was losing the information war by not reporting the real news, while Al Jazeera was “changing peoples’ minds and attitudes” by reporting on important issues…
Gaddafi: A two week diary of a madman
Following the revolutions to oust Mubarak and Ben Ali, the world has turned its focus on the country sandwiched right between Egypt and Tunisia. On the 15th of February, only four days after the resignation of Mubarak, an uprising began in the western Libyan city of Benghazi. At the onset of the uprising, Libya’s ruler of 41 years…
The Kids are Alright! Youth in Revolt from Bahrain to Wisconsin
They say that the young shall inherit the earth and it appears they have no desire to follow in their fathers’ economic, social and political footsteps and who can blame them. The youth in revolt , already tired of life without employment prospects, decent food and freedom are taking to the streets in northern Africa, the Middle East and around the world. The revolutions in Egypt and Tunisia could never have been successful…
The Statute of Liberty
The other night I was at a business seminar where my colleagues and I hoped to get advice in order to better ourselves in life and in our industry. For the most part it it was a huge success, as I learned things I might not have otherwise known. However, he dedicated the last twenty-five minutes or so to talking to us about the three forms of liberty, and while his business advice…
Viva La Muslim Revolution (Part 2 of 2)
Shortly after the uprising in Tunisia, the people of Egypt began to rise up having had enough of the thirty plus years of President Hosni Mubarak’s military rule. The protests are now in their third week with no real end in sight. The protesters have had everything thrown at them from rocks to Molotov cocktails to whip wielding Mubarak thugs on camels and still the demonstrators refuse to budge an inch. Each Friday has climaxed after prayers with hundreds of thousands of pro-democracy advocates crowding Tahrir Square, each one of them holding their breathe for that moment when President Mubarak steps down. Mubarak has promised to step down at the end of his term in September, but most Egyptians aren’t buying his delay tactics. They say he is just buying his time, riding out the present storm in order to cling to power and possibly extract his revenge on the dissidents at a later date. So the time is now as they say.